//------------------------------// // Tirek's Return // Story: The Butterfly Pegasus // by Fizzyberries302 //------------------------------// Knock, Knock, Knock, "Who-what?" mumbled Discord sleepily as he slowly opened his eyes. He let them slowly adjust to the light from the sun. Then he remembered. He looked back down and saw Fluttershy sleeping next to him, with a light smile on her face. He remembered how he had come over to her house for Tuesday tea to tell her how he felt. How she ended up kissing him and found out that she returned his feelings. And then there they were, lying in the grass among the flowers and trees, facing each other and locked up in a tight embrace as they shared long, loving kisses and confessed their feelings to each other. Discord sighed happily at the memory as he stared at Fluttershy's angelic face, with the light smile and strands of pink hair falling over her closed eyes. She's so beautiful, and her heart is mine... Discord closed his eyes, and melted into Fluttershy. His arms, which were already around her, held her tighter. I don't know much, but I know I love her and she loves me- Knock, Knock, Knock, There is was again. There was knocking at Fluttershy's front door. Gosh how long have they been asleep for. An hour? Two hours? Maybe three? Fluttershy woke up and tried to go see who was at the door, but Discord held onto her. "Don't go," "I have to, what if somepony needs help." Discord groaned and reluctantly let go. If there wasn't somepony knocking at the door, he would have held onto Fluttershy until he crumbled to dust. But this was still her house, and her rules. "Fluttershy!" cried Twilight's muffled, yet anxious voice from behind the door. Discord felt like somepony had dropped 200 pounds of weight on his head. That's all he needed. With Fluttershy's friends there, he wouldn't be able to act lovingly around her. He decided it was best for him to stay where he was, until they had gone. He could hear a muffled conversation happening inside, but he could quite make it out. Discord bolted into a sitting position when Fluttershy came back, but she was wearing her Element around her neck. His face fell when he saw the other five ponies standing there, all wearing their Elements. Twilight stepped forward. "Discord, we need to talk." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Woah, woah, woah! Woah, wait a minute! You want me," he said, pointing to his chest. "To stop Tirek?!" "As crazy as it sounds, Princess Celestia believes that you have the potential abilities to stop him. With every passing minute Tirek grows stronger. We need you to track him down and put a stop to his plan to steal all magic in Equestria." Twilight explained. Discord crossed his arms. "I don't know, Tia and I haven't had the best of pasts. This is the first time she has ever believed my powers are worth something. This seems a little too far fetched." Fluttershy put a hoof on his arm, making the draconequus shiver slightly. "Discord, please to what you can. For me?" she said, battering her eyes at him. Discord smiled warmly. "Okay," he cracked his knuckles. "For the sake of Equestria, I'll take care of this pest," He leaned down to Fluttershy's eye level. "It's mostly for Fluttershy," he said with a wink, making Fluttershy giggle. Discord stood back up and waved his paw. "You ladies go back to your homes, let me deal with this punk." He snapped his fingers and disappeared. Applejack spoke up. "Sometimes, I think that the 'reformed' Discord is worse the 'non-reformed' Discord." "Oh come on Applejack, I'm sure Discord will catch Tirek and this will all be over." Fluttershy said with a smile. "Indeed a roonie!" Pinkie chimed. They all turned when they heard a sigh. Twilight didn't look as confident as she usually did. The last time they had seen her like this was when Discord corrupted them into their opposites. "You okay Twilight?" Rainbow asked. Twilight sighed. "Sorry girls, but I'm really not seeing my purpose as an Equestrian Princess." They all stared at her as if she had gone mad. "Why do you doubt yourself?" Rarity asked. "You've helped save Equestria dozens of times, so why so glum?" "Well it's just that Princess Luna raises the Moon, Princess Celestia raises the Sun, Cadence protects the Crystal Empire and all I seem to do is smile and wave." "That's not true!" Applejack snapped, startling everyone. "Twilight, you have done so much for Equestria and you don't even realise it." "Name one," Twilight said. "I'll name all of them! You recovered the Elements of Harmony and defected Nightmare Moon, you stopped Discord's reign of chaos, you've helped us on countless occasions and you've spread the Magic of Friendship all across Equestria." Applejack explained. The other ponies nodded in agreement. Twilight stared at the southern pony. "What are you saying?" "I'm sayin' that your destiny has been with you all along, your job as a princess is not just to hold respect by smiling and waving. Your job is to share the Magic of Friendship with everyone, teach them the lessons that Celestia taught you." "But," "Don't ya remember what Celestia told you after you became an alicorn? Ever since you came to Ponyville, you have shown the charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism and leadership of a true alicorn princess and you've been too blind to see that. You don't see how much has changed for Equestria since you came to Ponyville." Applejack finished with a smile. Twilight stared at her, confused. "But, you all helped me in those situations." "Indeed we did. Twilight look at the Elements," Applejack said. Twilight looked around at the medallions that had saved Equestria on countless times. "While we all played a part in savin' Equestria, it is you who bares the most powerful magic of all." Twilight smiled. "The Magic of Friendship," She wrapped her arms around the earth pony. "Thanks Applejack, now I know what my purpose is." They broke away from the hug and Twilight grinned at her. "Honestly, I never expected such a thing from you Applejack." They all laughed. Twilight's face fell when she remembered something. "What about Tirek? We have to warn everyone!" "No, Twilight," Rarity said. "If we tell everyone whats going on, I'll cause a panic. I say we all go home and stay indoors until Discord gives the word," The unicorns eyes crossed slightly. "That is something I never thought I'd say." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The alley was the perfect spot for an ambush. Tirek stayed hidden in the shadows, he didn’t want to be spotted until any unsuspecting pony wandered too close. His golden eyes spotted a grey unicorn down the far end. “Perfect,” he thought. He moved closer to the unicorn, wanting the element of surprise. He was about to grab the pony, when it turned its head, revealing that it wasn’t a pony at all. “Tirek, I presume?” said Discord. Tirek was taken aback by this, but he knew Discord had some powerful magic. Maybe he could find some use to it. “Discord? You’re free?” he questioned, wondering how in the world he had escaped from his stone prison. “As a bird,” Discord said, turning into a bird version of himself. “I commend you on your escape,” Tirek said, bowing slightly. Discord poofed back into his original form. “I’m afraid the feeling isn’t mutual.” He snapped his fingers and Tirek found his arms in chains. He tried to fire a spell at him, but Discord dodged by splitting his head down the middle. “I should have known you would want Equestria all to yourself,” he grumbled. “Oh I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing this for my friends,” Discord leaned in and whispered. “Just between the two of us, it’s mostly for Fluttershy.” He squealed inwardly and moved away. Tirek gave him a look. “Fluttershy? You’re not saying your friends with Ponies?” “Surprise!” Discord cried, appearing from a giant cake. “I am surprised that someone with your abilities doesn’t see that this ‘friendship’ is nothing more than an imprisonment.” Discord raised an eyebrow. “Not for me, Fluttershy loves my magic. I even have a pocket dimension where I’m free to spread my glorious chaos, but most of the time I’m with Fluttershy.” He snapped up a picture of him and the pegasus. Tirek saw this and stared at him. He grinned when he saw the draconequus blush. “This mare means something to you, doesn’t she?” “She’s just a friend!” Discord said quickly, snapping the picture away, not wanting Tirek to know of the truth, though it hurt to say 'friend'. “Oh you poor unfortunate soul, I’ve seen this before but he was weak. You are Discord, the Lord of Chaos. You don’t need that puny pony; you need something far greater then friendship.” Discord crossed his arms and glared at him. “Your trying to get he to abandon my friends, it won’t work Tirek,” Tirek’s mouth dropped open. The centaur gritted his teeth. “Fine, I don’t need you. Your weak, just like my brother.” Tirek opened his mouth and Discord hardly had time to escape before Tirek started to drain him of his magic. Discord struggled, but managed to snap himself away, before Tirek could finish the job. Tirek snarled and stomped out of the ally. He grinned, remembering the picture. “So you like Fluttershy, well I’ll be paying her a visit tonight.” Discord managed to get to the roof top of a nearby house. He saw Tirek heading in the direction of Ponyville, as he was in Canterlot at the minute. His heart started racing when a thought of Fluttershy came into mind. “No,” He went to teleport, but a great amount of his magic had been stolen by Tirek. He tried to fly, but couldn't fly very well. He groaned in frustration knowing that he had lost a part of his flight abilities and some of his strength and Tirek had part of his magic and a five minute head start. He spread his wings and took of into the sky, flying as fast as he could in the direction of Ponyville. “I’m coming Fluttershy,” he said, praying that he wasn't too late. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy was busy cleaning the kitchen when she heard a knock on the door. “That's funny?” She walked out, expecting to see one her friends at the door, but instead a loud crash echoed through the cottage, starling her animals to hide. Dust and bits of wall were through everywhere. Fluttershy coughed and choked, trying to see what had happened. When the dust cleared, she couldn't remember taking a breathe when she saw Tirek standing in her now broken doorway. “Hello my dear,” he said. “Wha-what do you want?” she whimpered, backing away. “I would have come for your magic, but that friend of yours seems to be weaker than I thought. He thought striking me would do something, but he seems to care for you dearly,” he levitated her over. Fluttershy gasped and tried to get away, but Tirek grabbed her by the tail. In her struggle, she knocked over several things. Her Element had fallen off in the struggle and had rolled onto the floor, unnoticed. She flapped her wings violently, trying everything to escape. Angel Bunny watched from under the couch in horror as his owner struggled. She would have screamed, but her screams were too quiet to be heard. Fluttershy squirmed as Tirek covered her mouth and nose. Fluttershy's lungs burned as they begged for oxygen to be let in. She was becoming drowsy and her eyes rolled up to the back of her head in a faint. Tirek snapped up some rope and tied Fluttershy’s arms and legs together. He threw her over his shoulders and just walked out the door, not caring about the giant hole in the wall. "The magic can wait, I have a better idea for this beauty." He then snapped his fingers and disappeared. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discord sprinted down the main street of Ponyville. He had to get to the cottage as fast as he could. If he had his magic, he would snap his fingers and be there in two seconds. He didn't care if he woke up several neighbours with his cries. He had just passed by the library when Twilight spotted him through her bedroom window. She had been lying awake in bed, worrying about Tirek when she heard movement outside. She was about to tell the pony off, but stopped when she saw Discord, running... "Discord! What's going on!" she called. He didn't hear her, he just kept running. Her heart sank when she realised he was running in the direction of Fluttershy's house. Something was wrong. She shook Spike awake. "Spike wake up, get the girls and and tell them to meet me at Fluttershy's house. I think something's wrong!" "Huh, what?" Spike said, sleepily. "I'm not messing around Spike! Move it!" she snapped as she violently shoved his bed over and the dragon landed with a bonk. "Alright, I'm up!" he said, racing to the door. Twilight followed him outside and made a beeline for the cottage. Something must have happened. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When Discord saw the cottage, he stopped in shock. There was a giant hole where a front door should be. Discord panicked and sprinted inside. The inside of the cottage had been trashed, furniture had been turned over and there was dust and dirt everywhere. In the dust were huge hoof prints and the animals were chattering in terror, all covered in dust or bruised. Discord hadn't felt this hopeless since the night his parents died. He saw something sparkling on the floor. With a shaking paw, he picked it up and brushed of the dust. It was the Element of Kindness. He saw yellow feathers all across the floor. Clearly there had been a struggle. By then the other ponies were standing there, shocked and confused. Pinkie's mane deflated when she saw the mess. Twilight turned her head up to Discord, who was standing in the middle of the room. She was shocked to see a broken look on his face. Discord was standing in front of the toppled green couch where he and Fluttershy would have their Tuesday tea parties. He had no idea that it would have been the last tea party they'd have. Tears fell from his eyes when the realisation clicked in his brain. She had be taken. Discord fell to his knees in a wail, clutching the Element to his chest, he could still make out her rosy scent. It can't be true, no, no, no, no...... The five ponies stared in shock at their former enemy. They had never seen him cry before. "What happened!" Rainbow demanded. Twilight looked around at the room in a panic. "Where's Fluttershy?" Her eyes widened in horror when it clicked in her brain. "Oh no..." Discord just sobbed, wetting the floor with his tears. He didn't answer, except let out a wail of pure despair. "FLUTTERSHY!"